Porthcawl: Fisherman rescued after spending an hour in sea

The man was pulled from the water by the volunteer crew

A fisherman was rescued after spending almost an hour in the sea after falling into the water off the Welsh coast.

He had been working on deck off Porthcawl, Bridgend, on Monday when a "rogue rope" caused him to fall into the sea, the RNLI said in a statement.

He managed to get hold of one of his own marker buoys and call for help using his waterproof mobile phone.

Both Porthcawl lifeboats and a coastguard helicopter were tasked to respond to the call at about 13:15 GMT.

The man was spotted by the helicopter crew and he was pulled from the water by the crew of Porthcawl's Atlantic lifeboat.

He was transferred to the Mumbles all-weather lifeboat, which transferred to him to Mumbles lifeboat station, Swansea.

It was the first shout for newly qualified coxswain Josh Stewart, who explained: "He'd been in the water for nearly an hour when he was picked up, his body temperature was very low when he came to us and he was shaking considerably. He's a very lucky guy."

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